The Mets went west and won the first game of the four game series in LA tonight. They did it behind another solid effort by Chris Capuano who went 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs. Bobby Parnell and K-Rod closed it out with 3 scoreless innings of relief.
The Mets continued to single and double teams to death with 8 hits and 1 walk in the game. The big inning for the Mets was the sixth when they got run scoring doubles from Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran, and Daniel Murphy. Pagan was 2 for 5 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 1 RBI.
The Mets and Dodgers will do it again tomorrow night at 10pm.
The Mets jumped on Rick Porcello right from the start scoring 2 runs in the first and they were off an running from there. It was a complete blowout and, surprisingly, the second time they scored 14 runs in a game on this road trip. R.A. Dickey was solid for 7 innings only allowing 3 runs and that was all the Mets needed.
The story of the game was offense and more offense. The Mets had 18 hits and 5 walks including two grand slams from Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay. Light-hitting Josh Thole even hit a home. Of course, Jose Reyes went crazy going 4 for 4 with 3 runs. It was just an incredible offensive display.
The Mets are 3-1 on this road trip and a game over .500. They’re undermanned but not giving up on this season that’s for sure.
Here’s a quote from one of my favorite movies, Rocky Balboa: “It ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
Yes. I just quoted a fictitious character but it’s so relevant and true.
You saw the Mets take a beating at the hands of the Rangers on Friday night losing ugly by a lopsided score of 8-1. They then come right back to clobber the Rangers in game 2 of this series by a score of 14-5 and they never let up. This team has been pushed just under .500 for the last few weeks but they keep finding ways to take the hits and keep moving forward and within reach of .500.
This game may have been the turning point of the year. This team is now starting to show some serious character. I can now see this team staying in the wild card hunt and holding onto all their players (except maybe Carlos Beltran) for a potential playoff run. It’s not hard to see how, if the kids stay this productive and give the superstars a reason to come back, this could be a successful season.
Even Jose Reyes may want to stick around if the team manages to become a winner this year. We can only hope. But this I saw, this team can come back from a bad loss. They know it. The league knows it and now, thanks to this being a nationally televised game on FOX, most of the country knows it too.
Previously Met teams would have choked under similar circumstances. This one isn’t. Let’s just hope they can continue to take the hits for the rest of the season, because that’s how winning is done.
Mike Pelfrey was the story of the night. He threw his third career complete game allowing 1 run on 5 hits and no walks. The only run he allowed was a solo shot by Mark Trumbo. The shot was legitimate too. It was an opposite field homer to the deepest part of right center field. Otherwise, Pelfrey was completely in control and it was the third straight game that he didn’t walk anyone. Terry Collins allowed him to go 123 pitches deep and it was a tremendous showing.
The Mets offense was keyed by four stolen bases against Dan Haren. He was clearly rattled by the Mets running wild against him. The Mets had a collection of hits to score as usual. But the big hit for the Mets came from Carlos Beltran. He hit a 2-run homer in the fifth inning that appeared to go over Shea Bridge. It was a bomb!
The Mets and Angels will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow afternoon.
The MLB draft in taking place today through Wednesday. It’s a big draft for the Mets, who have the 13th pick in the first round, for a variety of reasons. It’s the first draft for Paul DePodesta with the Mets. He’s Sandy Alderson’s protoge and amateur and minor league expert.
The Mets also appear headed toward a rebuilding process so building through the draft is going to be critical. There are several big contracts like K-Rod, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Reyes that the Mets are poised to trade away this season. Combined with the Mets financial problems, building through the draft and farm system would be the likely emphasis for the organization.
I’m certainly not an amateur player expert so I wanted to put together some links this morning that would allow you to keep up with the best draft coverage over the next three days.
R.A. Dickey had another tremendous game going 8 innings allowing 1 run. Even on a bad foot he was dealing. He only allowed 4 hits and 1 walk. The bullpen tried to give it back in the ninth but the Mets held on for the win and take the series from the Braves.
Manny Acosta gave up a walk and a double in the ninth. Terry Collins brought in K-Rod because he’d seen enough of Acosta in his first game back from Buffalo. K-Rod gave up a 3-run homer to the first batter he faced to make the score 6-4. But he struck out Chipper Jones to hold on for the win and get another game finished toward his vesting option.
The Mets offense was solid with 10 hits and 5 walks in the game. It was more of Jose Reyes tonight going 2 for 4 with 2 runs and an RBI. He raised his season average to .337 and continues to be on fire.
Carlos Beltran left the game after fouling a ball off his right leg.
The game was called because of rain with two outs in the top of the seventh. It was foggy and windy to start and then the rain was really coming down hard in the later innings. The game didn’t start well for the Mets or Dillon Gee. He was hit hard for 4 runs in the bottom of the first inning and I was wondering if he was going to make it to the second inning. He settled down surprisingly well and managed to get through all 6 innings without allowing another run. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a pitcher look that bad to start and then settle down so well.
The Mets got lucky after Gee’s bad start to face some awful Cubs pitching. In 6.2 innings they had 12 hits and 5 walks. Carlos Beltran had a double and even a triple, if you can believe that! The Cubs pitching looked completely amateurish tonight.
The Mets and Cubs will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow before the Mets head home to play the Phillies.
The Mets Report 